2018 MXGP BULGARIA | MXGP OVERALL RACE RESULTS

Only 25 riders lined the MXGP gate in Bulgaria.

Jeffrey Herling is taking control of the 2018 MXGP series. He put another 1-1 victory in the books at the 17th round in Bulgaria. No-one will stop him and his 73 point lead unless he gets injured or is plagued with mechanical failures. The factory Honda rider of Tim Gajser finished second while Clement Desalle went 3-4 to round of the podium.

MXGP OVERALL RACE RESULTS | BULGARIA

Pos	Rider	Bike	Race 1	Race 2
1	Herlings, Jeffrey	KTM	1	1
2	Gajser, Tim	HON	2	3
3	Desalle, Clement	KAW	3	4
4	Cairoli, Antonio	KTM	8	2
5	Febvre, Romain	YAM	4	5
6	Paulin, Gautier	HUS	5	9
7	Coldenhoff, Glenn	KTM	9	7
8	Van Horebeek, Jeremy	YAM	6	13
9	Seewer, Jeremy	YAM	10	10
10	Searle, Tommy	KAW	13	8
11	Lupino, Alessandro	KAW	12	12
12	Strijbos, Kevin	KTM	15	11
13	Anstie, Max	HUS	25	6
14	Lieber, Julien	KAW	7	25
15	Leok, Tanel	HUS	14	15
16	Monticelli, Ivo	YAM	16	14
17	Simpson, Shaun	YAM	11	22
18	Waters, Todd	HON	19	16
19	Butron, Jose	KTM	18	17
20	Petrov, Petar	HON	17	19
21	Guillod, Valentin	KTM	21	18
22	Gercar, Klemen	HUS	22	20
23	Renkens, Nathan	HON	20	24
24	Bengtsson, Jonathan	KTM	23	21
25	Kouzis, Panagiotis	HON	24	23

 

MXGP POINT STANDINGS (ROUND 17 OF 20)

Pos	Rider	Nat.	Bike	Total
1	Herlings, J.	NED	KTM	783
2	Cairoli, A.	ITA	KTM	710
3	Desalle, C.	BEL	KAW	581
4	Gajser, Tim	SLO	HON	549
5	Febvre, Romain	FRA	YAM	544
6	Paulin, G.	FRA	HUS	483
7	Coldenhoff, G.	NED	KTM	446
8	Seewer, Jeremy	SUI	YAM	393
9	Van Horebeek, J.	BEL	YAM	373
10	Anstie, Max	GBR	HUS	313
11	Bobryshev, E.	RUS	SUZ	261
12	Lupino, A.	ITA	KAW	250
13	Nagl, M.	GER	TM	227
14	Lieber, Julien	BEL	KAW	219
15	Strijbos, K.	BEL	KTM	217
16	Simpson, Shaun	GBR	YAM	180
17	Searle, Tommy	GBR	KAW	151
18	Leok, Tanel	EST	HUS	115
19	Jasikonis, A.	LTU	HON	111
20	Guillod, V.	SUI	KTM	97

 

MXGP BULGARIA RACE REPORT

Tony Cairoli didn’t have the race he was looking for. 

MXGP’s Race 1 started with a season first Fox Holeshot from Team HRC’s Tim Gajser but the Slovenian quickly lost the lead to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings. Third off the start and not far off the top 2 riders’ pace was Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team’s Clement Desalle.

Following Desalle was the 2 French riders, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Romain Febvreand Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Gautier Paulin. Paulin’s teammate Max Anstielost control on the opening lap and collided with Febvre’s Monster Energy Yamaha teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek.

Van Horebeek stayed up but Anstie went down just in front of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli causing the Italian to lose positions. Cairoli was 10th across the line during the first official lap and put a charge on but only reached 8th after passing his Red Bull KTM teammate Glenn Coldenhoff.

After Cairoli’s pass for 8th on lap 4 the top 9 remained the same for the entirety of the race. Anstie pulled off the track to regroup for Race 2 while Herlings took a 15.9 second win over Gajser, Desalle, Febvre, and Paulin.

Race 2 saw a renewed Cairoli take the Fox Holeshot but similar to Gajser in race one the lead was shot away quickly at the hands of the “Bullet” Jeffrey Herlings. Gajser backed up his strong ride from the first race running 3rd ahead of Desalle.

Van Horebeek fell on the start along with Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP’s Shaun Simpson and Marchetti Racing Team KTM’s Jose Butron. Van Horebeek’s teammate Febvre was in 5th for the first lap and a half before crashing and dropping back to 8th.

Coldenhoff took over 5th once Febvre fell but had Anstie apply pressure from 6th. Anstie’s teammate, Paulin, only kept Febvre at bay for a single lap before he lost 7th. Febvre continued on to pass both Anstie and Coldenhoff which threw off the Dutch rider enough for Anstie to also move past a lap later.

At the finish Herlings topped Cairoli by just over 14 seconds with Gajser 3rd, Desalle 4th, and Febvre 5th. The overall win went to Herlings along with the full 50 points up for grabs. Gajser took 2nd and Desalle rounded out the podium while Cairoli just missed the box in 4th but more importantly lost 16 championship points to Herlings.

The series now heads to Turkey next weekend for the first time since 2009. Herlings’ championship lead is now 73 points with three rounds to go.

Jeffrey Herlings: “I had 2 great races, yesterday started off good and then today in the first race I was behind Tim who had a good start and I got around him pretty quick, then managed to ride my own pace to take the win. In the second race it was similar but with Tony. We are already looking forward to Turkey in 7-day time.”

Tim Gajser: “I am really happy to be back on the podium after missing it for a couple of GPs. I was feeling good today and also with the team. During the weekend we made some changes with the bike and today it payed off.”

Clement Desalle: “A podium is really consistent and is good to be here this season. I was on the podium last weekend in Switzerland and now again here. I had 2 good races and my riding was good but we have to keep working.”